Abstract

Background A recent increase in reports of acute hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) in HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected men who have sex with men (MSM), with the sole risk factor being sexual exposure, has led to routine screening and targeted prevention requests for this population; current evidence for this necessity is unclear.

Objective A systematic review was conducted to assess the incidence of HCV infection among studies conducted in HIV-positive and/or HIV-negative MSM to explore the implications for routine HCV screening.

Data sources The MEDLINE, EMBASE and BIOSYS databases were searched for the period January 2000 to May 2012, yielding 21 studies. Six conferences were hand-searched for the same period yielding four abstracts.

Study selection Only studies in English presenting incidence rates of HCV and specifying HIV status were included.

Data abstraction Data were abstracted by two authors using predefined data fields. The STROBE checklist was used to assess study quality.

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Footnotes

Funding Dr Marina Klein is supported by a ‘Chercheur-boursiers cliniciens senior’ career award from the FRSQ. She has consulted and presented lectures for Glaxo-Smith-Kline/viv and consulted for Bristol Myers Squibb. Dr Nitika Pant Pai is supported by the CIHR New Investigator Award 2010 and by Grand Challenges Canada's 2011 Rising Star Award in Global Health Award.

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